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28.10.202327.05.2017

Statement Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the intention to resolve the territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands and again attracted the attention of the general public to the so-called “problem of the Southern Kurils” or “northern territories”.

Shinzo Abe's loud statement, however, does not contain the main thing - an original solution that could suit both sides.

Land of the Ainu

The dispute over the Southern Kuril Islands has its roots in the 17th century, when there were neither Russians nor Japanese on the Kuril Islands.

The indigenous population of the islands can be considered the Ainu, a people whose origins are still debated by scientists. The Ainu, who once inhabited not only the Kuril Islands, but also all the Japanese islands, as well as the lower reaches of the Amur, Sakhalin and the south of Kamchatka, have today turned into a small nation. In Japan, according to official data, there are about 25 thousand Ainu, and in Russia there are just over a hundred of them left.

The first mentions of the islands in Japanese sources date back to 1635, in Russian sources - to 1644.

In 1711, a detachment of Kamchatka Cossacks led by Danila Antsiferova And Ivan Kozyrevsky first landed on the northernmost island of Shumshu, defeating a detachment of local Ainu here.

The Japanese also showed more and more activity in the Kuril Islands, but no demarcation line and no agreements existed between the countries.

Kuriles - to you, Sakhalin— us

In 1855, the Shimoda Treaty on trade and borders between Russia and Japan was signed. This document for the first time defined the border of the possessions of the two countries in the Kuril Islands - it passed between the islands of Iturup and Urup.

Thus, the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai group of islands came under the rule of the Japanese emperor, that is, the very territories around which there is a dispute today.

It was the day of the conclusion of the Shimoda Treaty, February 7, that was declared in Japan as the so-called “Northern Territories Day”.

Relations between the two countries were quite good, but they were spoiled by the “Sakhalin issue”. The fact is that the Japanese claimed the southern part of this island.

In 1875, a new treaty was signed in St. Petersburg, according to which Japan renounced all claims to Sakhalin in exchange for the Kuril Islands - both Southern and Northern.

Perhaps, it was after the conclusion of the 1875 treaty that relations between the two countries developed most harmoniously.

Exorbitant appetites of the Land of the Rising Sun

Harmony in international affairs, however, is a fragile thing. Japan, emerging from centuries of self-isolation, was rapidly developing, and at the same time its ambitions were growing. The Land of the Rising Sun has territorial claims against almost all its neighbors, including Russia.

This resulted in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which ended in a humiliating defeat for Russia. And although Russian diplomacy managed to mitigate the consequences of military failure, nevertheless, in accordance with the Portsmouth Treaty, Russia lost control not only over the Kuril Islands, but also over South Sakhalin.

This state of affairs did not suit not only Tsarist Russia, but also the Soviet Union. However, it was impossible to change the situation in the mid-1920s, which resulted in the signing of the Beijing Treaty between the USSR and Japan in 1925, according to which the Soviet Union recognized the current state of affairs, but refused to acknowledge “political responsibility” for the Portsmouth Treaty.

In subsequent years, relations between the Soviet Union and Japan teetered on the brink of war. Japan's appetite grew and began to spread to the continental territories of the USSR. True, the defeats of the Japanese at Lake Khasan in 1938 and at Khalkhin Gol in 1939 forced official Tokyo to slow down somewhat.

However, the “Japanese threat” hung like a sword of Damocles over the USSR during the Great Patriotic War.

Revenge for old grievances

By 1945, the tone of Japanese politicians towards the USSR had changed. There was no talk of new territorial acquisitions—the Japanese side would have been quite satisfied with maintaining the existing order of things.

But the USSR gave an undertaking to Great Britain and the United States that it would enter the war with Japan no later than three months after the end of the war in Europe.

The Soviet leadership had no reason to feel sorry for Japan - Tokyo behaved too aggressively and defiantly towards the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s. And the grievances of the beginning of the century were not forgotten at all.

On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. It was a real blitzkrieg - the million-strong Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria was completely defeated in a matter of days.

On August 18, Soviet troops launched the Kuril landing operation, the goal of which was to capture the Kuril Islands. Fierce battles broke out for the island of Shumshu - this was the only battle of the fleeting war in which the losses of Soviet troops were higher than those of the enemy. However, on August 23, the commander of the Japanese troops in the Northern Kuril Islands, Lieutenant General Fusaki Tsutsumi, capitulated.

The fall of Shumshu became the key event of the Kuril operation - subsequently the occupation of the islands on which the Japanese garrisons were located turned into acceptance of their surrender.

Kurile Islands. Photo: www.russianlook.com

They took the Kuril Islands, they could have taken Hokkaido

On August 22, Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East, Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky, without waiting for the fall of Shumshu, gives the order to troops to occupy the Southern Kuril Islands. The Soviet command is acting according to plan - the war continues, the enemy has not completely capitulated, which means we should move on.

The initial military plans of the USSR were much broader - Soviet units were ready to land on the island of Hokkaido, which was to become a Soviet zone of occupation. One can only guess how the further history of Japan would have developed in this case. But in the end, Vasilevsky received an order from Moscow to cancel the landing operation in Hokkaido.

Bad weather somewhat delayed the actions of Soviet troops in the Southern Kuril Islands, but by September 1, Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan came under their control. The Habomai island group was completely taken under control on September 2-4, 1945, that is, after the surrender of Japan. There were no battles during this period - the Japanese soldiers resignedly surrendered.

So, at the end of World War II, Japan was completely occupied by the Allied powers, and the main territories of the country came under US control.

Kurile Islands. Photo: Shutterstock.com

On January 29, 1946, Memorandum No. 677 of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur, excluded the Kuril Islands (Chishima Islands), the Habomai (Habomadze) group of islands, and Shikotan Island from Japanese territory.

On February 2, 1946, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Yuzhno-Sakhalin Region was formed in these territories as part of the Khabarovsk Territory of the RSFSR, which on January 2, 1947 became part of the newly formed Sakhalin Region as part of the RSFSR.

Thus, de facto, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands passed to Russia.

Why didn't the USSR sign a peace treaty with Japan?

However, these territorial changes were not formalized by a treaty between the two countries. But the political situation in the world has changed, and yesterday’s ally of the USSR, the United States, turned into Japan’s closest friend and ally, and therefore was not interested in either resolving Soviet-Japanese relations or resolving the territorial issue between the two countries.

In 1951, a peace treaty was concluded in San Francisco between Japan and the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, which the USSR did not sign.

The reason for this was the US revision of previous agreements with the USSR, reached in the Yalta Agreement of 1945 - now official Washington believed that the Soviet Union had no rights not only to the Kuril Islands, but also to South Sakhalin. In any case, this is exactly the resolution that was adopted by the US Senate during the discussion of the treaty.

However, in the final version of the San Francisco Treaty, Japan renounces its rights to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. But here, too, there is a catch - official Tokyo, both then and now, states that it does not consider Habomai, Kunashir, Iturup and Shikotan to be part of the Kuril Islands.

That is, the Japanese are sure that they really renounced South Sakhalin, but they never renounced the “northern territories”.

The Soviet Union refused to sign a peace treaty not only because its territorial disputes with Japan were unresolved, but also because it did not in any way resolve similar disputes between Japan and the then USSR ally, China.

Compromise ruined Washington

Only five years later, in 1956, the Soviet-Japanese declaration on ending the state of war was signed, which was supposed to be the prologue to the conclusion of a peace treaty.

A compromise solution was also announced - the islands of Habomai and Shikotan would be returned to Japan in exchange for unconditional recognition of the sovereignty of the USSR over all other disputed territories. But this could happen only after the conclusion of a peace treaty.

In fact, Japan was quite happy with these conditions, but then a “third force” intervened. The United States was not at all happy about the prospect of establishing relations between the USSR and Japan. The territorial problem acted as an excellent wedge driven between Moscow and Tokyo, and Washington considered its resolution extremely undesirable.

It was announced to the Japanese authorities that if a compromise was reached with the USSR on the “Kuril problem” on the terms of the division of the islands, the United States would leave the island of Okinawa and the entire Ryukyu archipelago under its sovereignty.

The threat was truly terrible for the Japanese - we were talking about an area with more than a million people, which has the greatest historical significance for Japan.

As a result, a possible compromise on the issue of the Southern Kuril Islands melted away like smoke, and with it the prospect of concluding a full-fledged peace treaty.

By the way, control over Okinawa finally passed to Japan only in 1972. Moreover, 18 percent of the island’s territory is still occupied by American military bases.

Complete dead end

In fact, there has been no progress in the territorial dispute since 1956. During the Soviet period, without reaching a compromise, the USSR came to the tactic of completely denying any dispute in principle.

In the post-Soviet period, Japan began to hope that Russian President Boris Yeltsin, generous with gifts, would give up the “northern territories.” Moreover, such a decision was considered fair by very prominent figures in Russia - for example, Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Perhaps at this moment the Japanese side made a mistake, instead of compromise options like the one discussed in 1956, they began to insist on the transfer of all the disputed islands.

But in Russia the pendulum has already swung in the other direction, and those who consider the transfer of even one island impossible are much louder today.

For both Japan and Russia, the “Kuril issue” has become a matter of principle over the past decades. For both Russian and Japanese politicians, the slightest concessions threaten, if not the collapse of their careers, then serious electoral losses.

Therefore, Shinzo Abe’s declared desire to solve the problem is undoubtedly commendable, but completely unrealistic.

The dispute over the southernmost Kuril Islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai - has been a point of tension between Japan and Russia since they were captured by the Soviet Union in 1945. More than 70 years later, Russian-Japanese relations are still not normal due to the ongoing territorial dispute. To a large extent, it was historical factors that prevented the solution of this issue. These include demographics, mentality, institutions, geography and economics—all of which encourage tough policies rather than compromise. The first four factors contribute to the continuation of the impasse, while the economy in the form of oil policy is associated with some hope of resolution.

Russia's claims to the Kuril Islands date back to the 17th century, resulting from periodic contacts with Japan through Hokkaido. In 1821, a de facto border was established, according to which Iturup became Japanese territory, and Russian land began with the island of Urup. Subsequently, according to the Treaty of Shimoda (1855) and the Treaty of St. Petersburg (1875), all four islands were recognized as Japanese territory. The last time the Kuril Islands changed their owner was as a result of World War II - in 1945 in Yalta, the Allies essentially agreed to transfer these islands to Russia.

The dispute over the islands became part of Cold War politics during the negotiations for the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Article 2c of which forced Japan to renounce all its claims to the Kuril Islands. However, the Soviet Union's refusal to sign this agreement left these islands in a state of uncertainty. In 1956, a joint Soviet-Japanese declaration was signed, which de facto meant the end of the state of war, but could not resolve the territorial conflict. After the ratification of the US-Japan Security Treaty in 1960, further negotiations ceased, and this continued until the 1990s.

However, after the end of the Cold War in 1991, a new opportunity to resolve this issue seemed to arise. Despite the turbulent events in world affairs, the positions of Japan and Russia on the Kuril Islands issue have not undergone much change since 1956, and the reason for this situation was five historical factors outside the Cold War.

The first factor is demographic. Japan's population is already declining due to low birth rates and aging, while Russia's population has been declining since 1992 due to excess alcohol consumption and other social ills. This shift, coupled with the weakening of international influence, has led to the emergence of backward-looking trends, and both nations are now largely trying to resolve the issue by looking back rather than forward. Given these attitudes, it can be concluded that the aging populations of Japan and Russia are making it impossible for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Vladimir Putin to negotiate due to their deeply entrenched views on the Kuril Islands issue.

Context

Is Russia ready to return the two islands?

Sankei Shimbun 10/12/2016

Military construction in the Kuril Islands

The Guardian 06/11/2015

Is it possible to agree on the Kuril Islands?

BBC Russian Service 05/21/2015
All this also plays into the mentality and perceptions of the outside world, which are shaped by how history is taught and, more broadly, by how it is presented by the media and public opinion. For Russia, the collapse of the Soviet Union was a severe psychological blow, accompanied by a loss of status and power, as many former Soviet republics seceded. This significantly changed Russia's borders and created significant uncertainty about the future of the Russian nation. It is well known that in times of crisis, citizens often exhibit stronger feelings of patriotism and defensive nationalism. The Kuril Islands dispute fills a void in Russia and also provides an opportunity to speak out against perceived historical injustices committed by Japan.

The perception of Japan in Russia was largely shaped by the issue of the Kuril Islands, and this continued until the end of the Cold War. Anti-Japanese propaganda became common after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, and it was intensified by Japanese intervention during the Russian Civil War (1918–1922). This led many Russians to believe that as a result, all previously concluded treaties were annulled. However, Russia's victory over Japan in World War II ended the previous humiliation and strengthened the symbolic significance of the Kuril Islands, which came to represent (1) the irreversibility of the results of World War II and (2) Russia's status as a great power. From this point of view, the transfer of territory is seen as a revision of the outcome of the war. Therefore, control of the Kuril Islands remains of great psychological importance for the Russians.

Japan is trying to define its place in the world as a “normal” state, located next to an increasingly powerful China. The issue of the return of the Kuril Islands is directly related to the national identity of Japan, and these territories themselves are perceived as the last symbol of defeat in World War II. The Russian offensive and seizure of Japan's "inalienable territory" contributed to the victim mentality that became the dominant narrative after the end of the war.

This attitude is reinforced by Japan's conservative media, which often supports the government's foreign policies. In addition, nationalists often use the media to viciously attack academics and politicians who hint at the possibility of compromise on the issue, leaving little room for maneuver.

This, in turn, influences the political institutions of both Japan and Russia. In the 1990s, President Boris Yeltsin's position was so weak that he feared possible impeachment if the Kuril Islands were transferred to Japan. At the same time, the central Russian government was weakened as a result of the growing influence of regional politicians, including two governors of the Sakhalin region - Valentin Fedorov (1990 - 1993) and Igor Fakhrutdinov (1995 - 2003), who actively opposed the possible sale of the Kuril Islands to Japan. They relied on nationalist feelings, and this was enough to prevent the completion of the treaty and its implementation in the 1990s.

Since President Putin came to power, Moscow has brought regional governments under its influence, but other institutional factors have also contributed to the stalemate. One example is the idea that a situation must mature before some issue or problem can be resolved. During the initial period of his rule, President Putin had the opportunity, but did not have the desire, to negotiate with Japan over the Kuril Islands. Instead, he decided to spend his time and energy trying to resolve the Sino-Russian border conflict through the issue of the Kuril Islands.

Since returning to the presidency in 2013, Putin has become increasingly dependent on the support of nationalist forces, and it is unlikely that he will be willing to cede the Kuril Islands in any meaningful sense. Recent events in Crimea and Ukraine clearly demonstrate how far Putin is willing to go to protect Russia's national status.

Japanese political institutions, although they differ from Russian ones, also support a tough course of action in negotiations regarding the Kuril Islands. As a result of reforms carried out after the end of World War II, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) occupies a dominant position in Japan. With the exception of the period from 1993 to 1995 and from 2009 to 2012, the LDP has had and continues to have a majority in the national legislative assembly, and in fact its party platform on the return of the four southern islands of the Kuril chain has been an integral part of national policy since 1956.

Moreover, as a result of the 1990-1991 real estate crash, the Liberal Democratic Party has produced only two effective prime ministers, Koizumi Junichiro and Shinzo Abe, both of whom rely on nationalist support to maintain their positions. Finally, regional politics plays an important role in Japan, and elected politicians on the island of Hokkaido are pushing the central government to take an assertive stance in the dispute. Taken together, all these factors are not conducive to reaching a compromise that would include the return of all four islands.

Sakhalin and Hokkaido emphasize the importance of geography and regional interests in this dispute. Geography influences how people see the world and how they observe policy formation and implementation. Russia's most important interests are in Europe, followed by the Middle East and Central Asia, and only after that Japan. Here is one example: Russia devotes a significant part of its time and effort to the issue of NATO expansion to the east, into the eastern part of Europe, as well as the negative consequences associated with the events in Crimea and Ukraine. As for Japan, for it the alliance with the United States, China and the Korean Peninsula have a higher priority than relations with Moscow. The Japanese government must also heed public pressure to resolve issues with North Korea over kidnapping and nuclear weapons, which Abe has promised to do several times. As a result, the issue of the Kuril Islands is often relegated to the background.

Probably the only factor contributing to a possible resolution of the Kuril Islands issue is economic interests. After 1991, both Japan and Russia entered a period of prolonged economic crisis. The Russian economy hit its lowest point during its currency crisis in 1997, and is currently facing serious difficulties due to the collapse of oil prices and economic sanctions. However, the development of oil and gas fields in Siberia, during which Japanese capital and Russian natural resources are combined, contributes to cooperation and the possible resolution of the issue of the Kuril Islands. Despite the sanctions imposed, 8% of Japan's oil consumption in 2014 was imported from Russia, and the increase in oil and natural gas consumption is largely due to the consequences of the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Taken together, historical factors largely determine the continued stagnation in resolving the issue of the Kuril Islands. Demographics, geography, political institutions, and the attitudes of Japanese and Russian citizens all contribute to a tough negotiating position. Oil policy provides some incentives for both nations to resolve disputes and normalize relations. However, this has not yet been enough to break the deadlock. Despite the possible change of leaders around the world, the main factors that have driven this dispute to an impasse will most likely remain unchanged.

Michael Bacalu is a member of the Council on Asian Affairs. He received a master's degree in international relations from Seoul University, South Korea, and a bachelor's degree in history and political science from Arcadia University. The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author as an individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization with which he has an association.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

On the issue of Japan's claims to our Kuril Islands

Japanese politicians time after time “press the pedal”, initiating conversations with Moscow on the subject that, supposedly, “it’s time to return the Northern Territories to the Japanese masters.”

Previously, we did not particularly react to this hysteria from Tokyo, but now, it seems, we need to respond.

To begin with, a picture with text that represents better than any analytical articles Japan's real position at the time she was winner Russia. Now they are whining begging, but as soon as they feel their strength, they immediately begin to play “king of the hill”:

Japan took away a hundred years ago our Russian lands- half of Sakhalin and all the Kuril Islands as a result of Russia’s defeat in the 1905 war. From those times, the famous song “On the Hills of Manchuria” remained, which in Russia still reminds of the bitterness of that defeat.

However, times have changed, and Japan itself has become defeatist in the Second World War, which personally started against China, Korea and other Asian countries. And, overestimating its strength, Japan even attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 - after which the United States entered the war against Japan and its ally Hitler. Yes Yes, Japan was Hitler's ally but somehow little is remembered about that today. Why? Who has become displeased with History in the West?

As a result of its own military disaster, Japan signed the "Act of unconditional surrender"(!), where in text It is clearly stated that “We hereby undertake that the Japanese Government and its successors will faithfully implement the terms and conditions.” Potsdam Declaration" And in that “ Potsdam Declaration» clarified that « Japanese sovereignty will be limited to the islands Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and those smaller islands that we will indicate" And where are the “northern territories” that the Japanese demand “back” from Moscow? In general, what territorial claims to Russia can be discussed in Japan, which deliberately committed aggression in alliance with Hitler?

– Having a purely negative attitude towards any transfer of any islands to Japan, it is still necessary to clarify for the sake of fairness: the tactics of recent years, which are perfectly clear to professionals, are as follows - do not outright deny what was promised by the previous authorities, talk only about fidelity to the Declaration of 1956, that is only about Habomai and Shikotan, thereby excluding from the problem Kunashir and Iturup, which appeared under pressure from Japan in the negotiations in the mid-90s, and, finally, to accompany the words about “loyalty” to the Declaration with such formulations that today do not coincide with the position of Japan.

– The declaration assumed first the conclusion of a peace treaty and only then the “transfer” of the two islands. The transfer is an act of good will, a willingness to dispose of one’s own territory “meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state.” Japan insists that the “return” precede the peace treaty, because the very concept of “return” is a recognition of the illegality of their belonging to the USSR, which is is a revision not only of the results of the Second World War, but also of the principle of the inviolability of these results.

– Satisfying Japanese claims to “return” the islands would mean directly undermining the principle of the non-dispute of the results of World War II and would open up the possibility of questioning other aspects of the territorial status quo.

– “Complete and unconditional surrender” of Japan is fundamentally different from simple surrender due to legal, political and historical consequences. A simple “surrender” means an admission of defeat in hostilities and does not affect the international legal personality of the defeated power, no matter what losses it may have suffered. Such a state retains its sovereignty and legal personality and itself, as a legal party, negotiates peace terms. “Complete and unconditional surrender” means the cessation of the existence of a subject of international relations, the dismantling of the former state as a political institution, the loss of sovereignty and all powers that pass to the victorious powers, which themselves determine the conditions of peace and the post-war order and settlement.

– In the case of “complete and unconditional surrender” with Japan, then Japan retained the former emperor, which is used to claim that Japan's legal personality was not interrupted. However, in reality, the source of maintaining imperial power is different - it is will and decision of the Winners.

– US Secretary of State J. Byrnes pointed out to V. Molotov: “Japan’s position does not stand up to criticism that it cannot consider itself bound by the Yalta agreements, since it was not a party to them.” Today's Japan is a post-war state, and a settlement can only come from the post-war international legal framework, especially since only this basis has legal force.

– The “Soviet-Japanese Declaration of October 19, 1956” recorded the USSR’s readiness to “transfer” the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan, but only after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty. It's about not about “return”, but about “transfer”, that is, the readiness to dispose as act of goodwill its territory, which does not create a precedent for revising the results of the war.

– The United States exerted direct pressure on Japan during the Soviet-Japanese negotiations in 1956 and did not stop before ultimatum: The United States stated that if Japan signs a “Peace Treaty” with the USSR, in which it agrees to recognize South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands as part of the territory of the USSR, " The United States will forever retain its possession of the Ryukyu Islands."(Okinawa).

– Signing of the “Soviet-Japanese Declaration”, according to the reckless plan of N. Khrushchev, was supposed to keep Japan from concluding a military cooperation agreement with the United States. However, such an agreement between Tokyo and Washington followed on January 19, 1960, and according to it it was enshrined unlimited presence of American armed forces on Japanese territory.

- On January 27, 1960, the Soviet government announced “a change in circumstances” and warned that “only subject to the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Japanese territory and the signing of a Peace Treaty between the USSR and Japan, the islands of Habomai and Shikotan will be transferred to Japan.”

Here are some thoughts about Japanese “wants”.

Kuril Islands: not four naked islands

Lately, the “question” of the Southern Kuril Islands has been discussed again. The media of mass disinformation are fulfilling the task of the current government - to convince the people that we do not need these islands. The obvious is being hushed up: after the transfer of the Southern Kuril Islands to Japan, Russia will lose a third of its fish, our Pacific Fleet will be locked up and will not have free access to the Pacific Ocean, the entire border system in the east of the country will need to be reviewed, etc. I, a geologist who worked in the Far East, Sakhalin for 35 years, and who visited the South Kuril Islands more than once, am especially outraged by the lie about the “four bare islands” supposedly representing the South Kuril Islands.

Let's start with the fact that the Southern Kuril Islands are not 4 islands. They include Fr. Kunashir, O. Iturup And all islands of the Lesser Kuril ridge. The latter includes Fr. Shikotan(182 sq. km), o. Green(69 sq. km), o. Polonsky(15 sq. km), o. Tanfilyeva(8 sq. km), o. Yuri(7 sq. km), o. Anuchina(3 sq. km) and many smaller islands: o. Demina, O. Shards, O. Sentry, O. Signal and others. And to the island Shikotan usually include islands Griga And Aivazovsky. The total area of the islands of the Lesser Kuril Ridge is about 300 square meters. km, and all the islands of the South Kuril Islands - more than 8500 sq. km. What the Japanese, and after them “our” democrats and some diplomats, call an island Habo mai, is about 20 islands.

The subsoil of the Southern Kuril Islands contains a large complex of minerals. Its leading elements are gold and silver, deposits of which have been explored on the island. Kunashir. Here, at the Prasolovskoye field, in some areas the content gold reaches a kilogram or more, silver– up to 5 kg per ton of rock. The predicted resources of the North Kunashir ore cluster alone are 475 tons of gold and 2160 tons of silver (these and many other figures are taken from the book “Mineral resource base of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands at the turn of the third millennium” published last year by the Sakhalin book publishing house). But, besides Fr. Kunashir, other islands of the Southern Kuril Islands are also promising for gold and silver.

In the same Kunashir, polymetallic ores are known (Valentinovskoye deposit), in which the content zinc reaches 14%, copper – up to 4%, gold– up to 2 g/t, silver– up to 200 g/t, barium– up to 30%, strontium- until 3 %. Reserves zinc amount to 18 thousand tons, copper– 5 thousand tons. On the islands of Kunashir and Iturup there are several ilmenite-magnetite placers with high content gland(up to 53%), titanium(up to 8%) and increased concentrations vanadium. Such raw materials are suitable for the production of high-grade vanadium cast iron. At the end of the 60s, Japan offered to buy Kuril ilmenite-magnetite sands. Is it because of the high vanadium content? But in those years, not everything was bought and sold; there were values more valuable than money, and transactions were not always accelerated by bribes.

Of particular note are the recently discovered rich ore accumulations in the Southern Kuril Islands. Rhenia, which is used for parts of supersonic aircraft and missiles, protects the metal from corrosion and wear. These ores are modern volcanic debris. The ore continues to accumulate. It is estimated that only one Kudryavy volcano on the island. Iturup carries out 2.3 tons of rhenium per year. In some places the ore content of this valuable metal reaches 200 g/t. Will we also give it to the Japanese?

Among non-metallic minerals, we will highlight deposits sulfur. Nowadays this raw material is one of the most scarce in our country. Deposits of volcanic sulfur have long been known in the Kuril Islands. The Japanese developed it in many places. Soviet geologists explored and prepared for development a large deposit of Novoe sulfur. In only one of its sections - Western - industrial reserves of sulfur amount to more than 5 million tons. On the islands of Iturup and Kunashir there are many smaller deposits that can attract entrepreneurs. In addition, some geologists consider the area of the Lesser Kuril Ridge to be promising for oil and gas.

In the Southern Kuril Islands there are very scarce in the country and very valuable thermomineral waters. The most famous of them are the Hot Beach springs, in which waters with a high content of silicic and boric acids have a temperature of up to 100 o C. There is a hydropathic clinic here. Similar waters are found in the North Mendeleev and Chaykin springs on the island. Kunashir, as well as in a number of places on the island. Iturup.

Who hasn’t heard about the thermal waters of the Southern Kuril Islands? In addition to being a tourist site, it is thermal energy raw materials, the importance of which has recently increased due to the ongoing energy crisis in the Far East and the Kuril Islands. So far, geothermal hydroelectric power stations using underground heat operate only in Kamchatka. But it is possible and necessary to develop high-potential coolants - volcanoes and their derivatives - on the Kuril Islands. By now on about. In Kunashir, the Hot Beach steam hydrothermal deposit has been explored, which can provide heat and hot water to the city of Yuzhno-Kurilsk (partially the steam-water mixture is used to supply heat to a military unit and state farm greenhouses). On about. Iturup has explored a similar deposit – Okeanskoye.

It is also important that the Southern Kuril Islands are a unique testing ground for studying geological processes, volcanism, ore formation, studying giant waves (tsunamis), and seismicity. There is no other such scientific site in Russia. And science, as you know, is a productive force, the fundamental basis for the development of any society.

And how can one call the Southern Kuril Islands “bare islands” if they are covered with almost subtropical vegetation, where there are many medicinal herbs and berries (aralia, lemongrass, redberry), the rivers are rich red fish(chum salmon, pink salmon, masu salmon), fur seals, sea lions, seals, sea otters live on the coast, the shallow water is strewn with crabs, shrimp, sea cucumbers, and scallops?

Isn’t all of the above known in the government, in the Russian Embassy in Japan, and in “our” democrats? I think that discussions about the possibility of transferring the Southern Kuril Islands to Japan - not from stupidity, but from meanness. Some figures like Zhirinovsky propose to sell our islands to Japan and name specific amounts. Russia sold Alaska cheaply, also considering the peninsula “land of no use to anyone.” And now the United States gets a third of its oil, more than half its gold, and much more from Alaska. So go cheap anyway, gentlemen!

How Russia and Japan will divide the Kuril Islands. We answer eight naive questions about the disputed islands

Moscow and Tokyo, perhaps closer than ever to solving the problem of the South Kuril Islands - this is what Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe thinks. For his part, Vladimir Putin explained that Russia is ready to discuss this issue only on the basis of the Soviet-Japanese declaration of 1956 - according to it, the USSR agreed to hand over to Japan only two the smallest South Kuril Islands - Shikotan and I am coming Habomai. But he left behind large and inhabited islands Iturup And Kunashir.

Will Russia agree to the treaty and where did the “Kuril issue” come from? A senior researcher at the Center for Japanese Studies at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences helped Komsomolskaya Pravda to figure out. Victor Kuzminkov.

1. Why do the Japanese even lay claim to the Kuril Islands? After all, they abandoned them after World War II?

– Indeed, in 1951 the San Francisco Peace Treaty was concluded, where it was stated that Japan refuses from all claims to the Kuril Islands, agrees Kuzminkov. - But a few years later, in order to get around this point, the Japanese began to call the four islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai - northern territories and deny that they belong to the Kuril ridge (and, on the contrary, they belong to the island of Hokkaido). Although on pre-war Japanese maps they were designated precisely as the Southern Kuril Islands.

2. Still, how many disputed islands are there – two or four?

– Now Japan lays claim to all four of the above-mentioned islands; in 1855, the border between Russia and Japan passed along them. But immediately after World War II - both in San Francisco in 1951 and in 1956 at the signing of the Soviet-Japanese Declaration - Japan disputed only Shikotan and Habomai. At that time, they recognized Iturup and Kunashir as the Southern Kuriles. It is precisely about returning to the positions of the 1956 declaration that Putin and Abe are now talking about.

“Joint farming in the Kuril Islands was discussed, but I believe that this is a stillborn project,” the expert commented. – Japan will demand preferences that will call into question Russia’s sovereignty in these territories.

Likewise, the Japanese are not ready to agree to lease the islands from Russia (this idea has also been voiced) - they consider the northern territories to be their ancestral land.

In my opinion, the only real option today is to sign a peace treaty, which means little for both countries. And the subsequent creation of a border delimitation commission, which will sit for at least 100 years, but will not come to any decision.

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The total population of the South Kuril Islands is about 17 thousand people.

Island group Habomai(more than 10 islands) – uninhabited.

On the island Shikotan– 2 villages: Malokurilskoye and Krabozavodskoye. There is a cannery. During the Soviet years it was one of the largest in the USSR. But now little remains of its former power.

On the island Iturup– the city of Kurilsk (1600 people) and 7 villages. In 2014, the Iturup International Airport was opened here.

On the island Kunashir– the village of Yuzhno-Kurilsk (7,700 people) and 6 smaller villages. There is a geothermal power plant and more than a hundred military installations here.

There are also territorial disputes in the modern world. The Asia-Pacific region alone has several of these. The most serious of them is the territorial debate over the Kuril Islands. Russia and Japan are its main participants. The situation on the islands, which are considered a kind of between these states, has the appearance of a dormant volcano. Nobody knows when it will begin its “eruption.”

Discovery of the Kuril Islands

The archipelago, located on the border between and the Pacific Ocean, is the Kuril Islands. It stretches from Fr. Hokkaido to The territory of the Kuril Islands consists of 30 large land areas, surrounded on all sides by sea and ocean waters, and a large number of small ones.

The first expedition from Europe that found itself near the shores of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin were Dutch sailors led by M. G. Friese. This event occurred in 1634. They not only made the discovery of these lands, but also proclaimed them as Dutch territory.

Explorers of the Russian Empire also studied Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands:

1646 - discovery of the northwestern Sakhalin coast by the expedition of V. D. Poyarkov;
1697 - V.V. Atlasov becomes aware of the existence of the islands.

At the same time, Japanese sailors begin to sail to the southern islands of the archipelago. By the end of the 18th century, their trading posts and fishing expeditions appeared here, and a little later - scientific expeditions. A special role in the research belongs to M. Tokunai and M. Rinzou. Around the same time, an expedition from France and England appeared on the Kuril Islands.

The problem of discovering islands

The history of the Kuril Islands still preserves discussions regarding the issue of their discovery. The Japanese claim that they were the first to find these lands in 1644. The National Museum of Japanese History carefully preserves a map of that time, on which the corresponding symbols are applied. According to them, Russian people appeared there a little later, in 1711. In addition, a Russian map of this area, dated 1721, designates it as “Japanese Islands.” That is, Japan was the discoverer of these lands.

The Kuril Islands in Russian history were first mentioned in N.I. Kolobov’s report to Tsar Alexei in 1646 about the peculiarities of travel. Also, data from chronicles and maps of medieval Holland, Scandinavia and Germany indicate indigenous Russian villages.

By the end of the 18th century, they were officially annexed to the Russian lands, and the population of the Kuril Islands acquired Russian citizenship. At the same time, state taxes began to be collected here. But neither then nor a little later was any bilateral Russian-Japanese treaty or international agreement signed that would secure Russia’s rights to these islands. Moreover, their southern part was not under the power and control of the Russians.

Kuril Islands and relations between Russia and Japan

The history of the Kuril Islands in the early 1840s is characterized by the intensification of the activities of English, American and French expeditions in the northwest Pacific Ocean. This is the reason for a new surge of Russian interest in establishing relations with the Japanese side that are diplomatic and commercial in nature. Vice Admiral E.V. Putyatin in 1843 initiated the idea of equipping a new expedition to Japanese and Chinese territories. But it was rejected by Nicholas I.

Later, in 1844, he was supported by I. F. Krusenstern. But this did not receive the support of the emperor.

During this period, the Russian-American company took active steps to establish good relations with the neighboring country.

First treaty between Japan and Russia

The problem of the Kuril Islands was resolved in 1855, when Japan and Russia signed the first treaty. Before this, a fairly lengthy negotiation process took place. It began with Putyatin's arrival in Shimoda in the late autumn of 1854. But the negotiations were soon interrupted by an intense earthquake. A rather serious complication was the support provided by the French and English rulers to the Turks.

Main provisions of the agreement:

establishing diplomatic ties between these countries;
protection and patronage, as well as ensuring the inviolability of the property of subjects of one power on the territory of another;
drawing the border between the states located near the islands of Urup and Iturup of the Kuril Archipelago (remaining indivisible);
opening some ports for Russian sailors, allowing trade to take place here under the supervision of local officials;
appointment of a Russian consul in one of these ports;
granting the right of extraterritoriality;
Russia receiving most favored nation status.

Japan also received permission from Russia to trade in the port of Korsakov, located on the territory of Sakhalin, for 10 years. The country's consulate was established here. At the same time, any trade and customs duties were excluded.

Attitude of countries to the Treaty

A new stage, which includes the history of the Kuril Islands, is the signing of the Russian-Japanese Treaty of 1875. It caused mixed reviews from representatives of these countries. Citizens of Japan believed that the country's government did the wrong thing by exchanging Sakhalin for “an insignificant ridge of pebbles” (as they called the Kuril Islands).

Others simply put forward statements about the exchange of one territory of the country for another. Most of them were inclined to think that sooner or later the day would come when war would come to the Kuril Islands. The dispute between Russia and Japan will escalate into hostilities, and battles will begin between the two countries.

The Russian side assessed the situation in a similar way. Most representatives of this state believed that the entire territory belonged to them as discoverers. Therefore, the 1875 treaty did not become the act that once and for all determined the demarcation between the countries. It also failed to be a means of preventing further conflicts between them.

Russo-Japanese War

The history of the Kuril Islands continues, and the next impetus to complicate Russian-Japanese relations was the war. It took place despite the existence of treaties concluded between these states. In 1904, Japan carried out a treacherous attack on Russian territory. This happened before the start of hostilities was officially announced.

The Japanese fleet attacked Russian ships that were in the outer roadstead of Port Artois. Thus, part of the most powerful ships belonging to the Russian squadron was disabled.

The most significant events of 1905:

the largest land battle of Mukden in the history of mankind at that time, which took place on February 5-24 and ended with the withdrawal of the Russian army;
The Battle of Tsushima at the end of May, which ended with the destruction of the Russian Baltic squadron.

Despite the fact that the course of events in this war was in the best possible way in favor of Japan, it was forced to enter into peace negotiations. This was due to the fact that the country's economy was very depleted by military events. On August 9, a peace conference between the participants in the war began in Portsmouth.

Reasons for Russia's defeat in the war

Despite the fact that the conclusion of the peace treaty determined to some extent the situation in the Kuril Islands, the dispute between Russia and Japan did not end. This caused a significant number of protests in Tokyo, but the consequences of the war were very noticeable for the country.

During this conflict, the Russian Pacific Fleet was almost completely destroyed, and more than 100 thousand of its soldiers were killed. The expansion of the Russian state to the East also stopped. The results of the war were indisputable evidence of how weak the tsarist policy was.

This was one of the main reasons for revolutionary actions in 1905-1907.

The most important reasons for Russia's defeat in the war of 1904-1905.

The presence of diplomatic isolation of the Russian Empire.
The country's troops are absolutely unprepared to carry out military operations in difficult situations.
The shameless betrayal of domestic stakeholders and the lack of talent of the majority of Russian generals.
High level of development and preparedness of the military and economic spheres of Japan.

Until our time, the unresolved Kuril issue poses a great danger. After the Second World War, a peace treaty was never signed as a result of it. The Russian people, like the population of the Kuril Islands, have absolutely no benefit from this dispute. Moreover, this state of affairs contributes to the generation of hostility between countries. It is the speedy resolution of such a diplomatic issue as the problem of the Kuril Islands that is the key to good neighborly relations between Russia and Japan.

The dispute between Russia and Japan has been going on for several decades. Due to the unresolved issue between the two countries there is still no

Why are the negotiations so difficult and is there a chance to find an acceptable solution that would suit both parties, the portal iz.ru found out.

Political maneuver

“We have been negotiating for seventy years. Shinzo said: “Let's change approaches.” Let's. So this is the idea that came to my mind: let’s conclude a peace treaty - not now, but before the end of the year - without any preconditions.”

This remark by Vladimir Putin at the Vladivostok Economic Forum caused a stir in the media. Japan's response, however, was predictable: Tokyo is not ready to make peace without resolving the territorial issue due to a variety of circumstances. Any politician who records in an international treaty even a hint of renunciation of claims to the so-called northern territories risks losing the elections and ending his political career.

For decades, Japanese journalists, politicians and scientists explained to the nation that the issue of returning the South Kuril Islands for the Land of the Rising Sun was fundamental, and in the end they explained it.

Now, with any political maneuver on the Russian front, the Japanese elites must take into account the notorious territorial problem.

It is clear why Japan wants to get the four southern islands of the Kuril chain. But why doesn’t Russia want to give them up?

From merchants to military bases

The wider world did not suspect the existence of the Kuril Islands until approximately the middle of the 17th century. The Ainu people who lived on them once inhabited all the Japanese islands, but under the pressure of invaders who arrived from the mainland - the ancestors of the future Japanese - they were gradually destroyed or driven north - to Hokkaido, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin.

In 1635–1637, a Japanese expedition explored the southernmost islands of the Kuril ridge; in 1643, the Dutch explorer Martin de Vries explored Iturup and Urup and declared the latter the property of the Dutch East India Company. Five years later, the northern islands were discovered by Russian merchants. In the 18th century, the Russian government took up the exploration of the Kuril Islands in earnest.

Russian expeditions reached the very south, mapped Shikotan and Habomai, and soon Catherine II issued a decree that all the Kuril Islands as far as Japan were Russian territory. The European powers took note. At that time, no one except themselves cared about the opinion of the Japanese.

Three islands - the so-called Southern group: Urup, Iturup and Kunashir - as well as the Lesser Kuril ridge - Shikotan and numerous uninhabited islands next to it, which the Japanese call Habomai - found themselves in a gray zone.

The Russians did not build fortifications or garrison there, and the Japanese were mainly occupied with the colonization of Hokkaido. Only on February 7, 1855, the first border treaty, the Shimoda Treaty, was signed between Russia and Japan.

According to its terms, the border between Japanese and Russian possessions passed along the Frieze Strait - ironically named after the same Dutch navigator who tried to declare the islands Dutch. Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai went to Japan, Urup and the islands further north to Russia.

In 1875, the Japanese were given the entire ridge up to Kamchatka in exchange for the southern part of Sakhalin; 30 years later, Japan regained it as a result of the Russo-Japanese War, which Russia lost.

During World War II, Japan was one of the Axis powers, but there was no hostilities between the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan for most of the conflict, as the parties signed a non-aggression pact in 1941.

However, on April 6, 1945, the USSR, fulfilling its allied obligations, warned Japan about the denunciation of the pact, and in August declared war on it. Soviet troops occupied all the Kuril Islands, on the territory of which the Yuzhno-Sakhalin Region was created.

But in the end, things did not come to a peace treaty between Japan and the USSR. The Cold War began and relations between the former allies became tense. Japan, occupied by American troops, automatically found itself on the side of the Western bloc in the new conflict.

Under the terms of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951, which the Union refused to sign for a number of reasons, Japan confirmed the return of all the Kuril Islands to the USSR - except Iturup, Shikotan, Kunashir and Habomai.

Five years later, there seemed to be a prospect of lasting peace: the USSR and Japan adopted the Moscow Declaration, which ended the state of war. The Soviet leadership then expressed its readiness to give Japan Shikotan and Habomai, provided that it withdraws its claims to Iturup and Kunashir.

But in the end everything fell apart. The states threatened Japan that if they signed an agreement with the Soviet Union, they would not return the Ryukyu Archipelago to it. In 1960, Tokyo and Washington entered into an agreement on mutual cooperation and security guarantees, which contained the provision that the United States has the right to station troops of any size in Japan, and after this Moscow categorically abandoned the idea of a peace treaty.

If earlier the USSR maintained the illusion that by ceding Japan it was possible to normalize relations with it, transferring it to the category of at least relatively neutral countries, now the transfer of the islands meant that American military bases would soon appear on them.

As a result, the peace treaty was never concluded - and has not yet been concluded.

Dashing 1990s

Soviet leaders up to Gorbachev did not recognize the existence of a territorial problem in principle. In 1993, already under Yeltsin, the Tokyo Declaration was signed, in which Moscow and Tokyo indicated their intention to resolve the issue of ownership of the Southern Kuril Islands. In Russia this was received with considerable concern, in Japan, on the contrary, with enthusiasm.

The northern neighbor was going through difficult times, and in the Japanese press of that time one can find the most insane projects - up to the purchase of islands for a large sum, fortunately the then Russian leadership was ready to make endless concessions to Western partners.

But in the end, both Russian fears and Japanese hopes turned out to be groundless: within a few years, Russia’s foreign policy course was adjusted in favor of greater realism, and there was no longer talk of transferring the Kuril Islands.

In 2004, the issue suddenly surfaced again. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Moscow, as a successor state of the USSR, is ready to resume negotiations on the basis of the Moscow Declaration - that is, sign a peace treaty and then, as a gesture of goodwill, give Shikotan and Habomai to Japan.

The Japanese did not compromise, and already in 2014 Russia completely returned to Soviet rhetoric, declaring that it had no territorial dispute with Japan.

Moscow's position is completely transparent, understandable and explainable. This is the position of the strong: it is not Russia that demands something from Japan - quite the contrary, the Japanese are putting forward claims that they cannot back up either militarily or politically. Accordingly, on the part of Russia we can only talk about a gesture of goodwill - and nothing more.

Economic relations with Japan are developing as usual, the islands do not affect them in any way, and the transfer of the islands will not speed them up or slow them down in any way.

At the same time, the transfer of islands may entail a number of consequences, and their magnitude depends on which islands will be transferred.

Closed sea, open sea

“This is a success that Russia has been moving towards for many years... In terms of the volume of reserves, these territories are a real Ali Baba’s cave, access to which opens up enormous opportunities and prospects for the Russian economy...
The inclusion of an enclave in the Russian shelf establishes Russia’s exclusive rights to the subsoil resources and seabed of the enclave, including fishing for sessile species, that is, crab, shellfish, etc., and also extends Russian jurisdiction to the territory of the enclave in terms of requirements for fishing, safety, and environmental protection "

This is how Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergei Donskoy commented in 2013 on the news that a UN subcommittee had decided to recognize the Sea of Okhotsk as an inland sea of Russia.

Until that moment, in the very center of the Sea of Okhotsk there was an enclave stretching from north to south with an area of 52 thousand square meters. km, for its characteristic shape received the name “Peanut Hole”.

The fact is that the 200-mile special economic zone of Russia did not reach the very center of the sea - thus, the waters there were considered international and vessels of any state could fish for marine animals and mine mineral resources there. After the UN subcommittee approved the Russian application, the sea became completely Russian.

This story had many heroes: scientists who proved that the seabed in the Peanut Hole area was the continental shelf, diplomats who managed to defend Russian claims, and others.

What will happen to the status of the Sea of Okhotsk if Russia gives Japan two islands - Shikotan and Habomai? Absolutely nothing. None of them are washed by its waters, therefore, no changes are expected. But if Moscow also gives up Kunashir and Iturup to Tokyo, then the situation will no longer be so clear.

The distance between Kunashir and Sakhalin is less than 400 nautical miles, that is, the special economic zone of Russia completely covers the south of the Sea of Okhotsk. But from Sakhalin to Urup there are already 500 nautical miles: a corridor leading to the “Peanut Hole” is formed between the two parts of the economic zone.

It is difficult to predict what consequences this will entail.

At the border the seiner walks gloomily

A similar situation is developing in the military sphere. Kunashir is separated from Japanese Hokkaido by the Izmena and Kunashir straits; between Kunashir and Iturup lies the Catherine Strait, between Iturup and Urup there is the Frieza Strait.

Now the Ekaterina and Frieze straits are under full Russian control, Izmena and Kunashirsky are under surveillance. Not a single enemy submarine or ship will be able to enter the Sea of Okhotsk through the islands of the Kuril ridge unnoticed, while Russian submarines and ships can safely exit through the deep-sea straits of Catherine and Frieza.

If two islands are transferred to Japan, it will be more difficult for Russian ships to use the Catherine Strait; in the event of the transfer of four, Russia will completely lose control over the Izmena, Kunashirsky and Ekaterina straits and will only be able to monitor the Frieze Strait. Thus, a hole will form in the Sea of Okhotsk protection system that will be impossible to fill.

The economy of the Kuril Islands is tied primarily to fish production and processing. There is no economy on Habomai due to the lack of population; on Shikotan, where about 3 thousand people live, there is a fish canning factory.

Of course, if these islands are transferred to Japan, they will have to decide the fate of the people living on them and the enterprises, and this decision will not be easy.

But if Russia gives up Iturup and Kunashir, the consequences will be much greater. Now about 15 thousand people live on these islands, active infrastructure construction is underway, and an international airport opened on Iturup in 2014. But most importantly, Iturup is rich in minerals.

In particular, there is the only economically viable deposit of rhenium, one of the rarest metals. Before the collapse of the USSR, Russian industry received it from the Kazakh Dzhezkazgan, and the deposit on the Kudryaviy volcano is a chance to completely end dependence on rhenium imports.

Thus, if Russia gives Japan Habomai and Shikotan, it will lose part of its territory and suffer relatively small economic losses; if in addition it gives up Iturup and Kunashir, it will suffer much more, both economically and strategically. But in any case, you can only give when the other side has something to offer in return. Tokyo has nothing to offer yet.

Russia wants peace - but with a strong, peace-loving and friendly Japan pursuing an independent foreign policy.

In the current conditions, when experts and politicians are talking more and more loudly about a new Cold War, the ruthless logic of confrontation comes into play again: giving up Habomai and Shikotan, not to mention Kunashir and Iturup, to Japan, which supports anti-Russian sanctions and maintains American bases on its territory, Russia risks simply losing the islands without receiving anything in return. It is unlikely that Moscow is ready to do this.

Alexey Lyusin